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Jade Druid is a deck that is built around the Jade Golem mechanic, which lets you play a larger and larger Jade Golem for each one you summon. Jade Druid is a strong contender on ladder, thanks in no small part to the new cards in Knights of the Frozen Throne, Spreading Plague and Ultimate Infestation. Last Saturday, I wrote part 1, which offered an introduction to the deck and dove into the deckbuilding aspect of playing Jade Druid. This week, I’ll go more in-depth about how to play the deck, including various tips and advice against every opponent class.

I’ve reached legend the last two months with Jade Druid. While my results with the deck haven’t been super impressive (I finished the October season at rank 68 Legend), I still hope I can speak about the deck with authority.

Jade Druid is a deck that tries to continuously summon Jade Golems until they become so large that it becomes impossible for the opponent to deal with them. The Druid has access to ramp cards that let you play your cards earlier than they would otherwise be able to. In addition, the Druid has access to heavy card draw with two Nourish and two Ultimate Infestation. The combination of Jade cards with heavy card draw is so powerful because the extra card draw will draw the Druid into even more Jade cards, which, of course, become more powerful the more of them the Druid has.

In this article, I will explain Jade Druid’s playstyle, core cards of the deck, tech cards, and offer a few example deck lists. In part two of this series, I will go more in-depth about how to play this unique deck.

When I started up “The Flame in the Flood”, there was a short cutscene where your trusty dog, Aesop, drags a backpack in his mouth and encounters your character: A girl sitting idly by a campfire. No words are exchanged, but the girl pets the dog and accepts the pack. Then you stand up, and you guide the girl to the nearest dock, passing by a sign that says, “DO NOT IDLE”.

“Do Not Idle” are three words that encompass the entire game. You start at Pinewood, a forest somewhere on the bank of an unnamed river. You and the dog go silently through the forest, picking up useful items as you go., before reaching your raft. Then, you’re put in charge of controlling the raft, dodging obstacles and making your way to the next destination, marked by a yellow circle at the top of the screen.

Exodia mage is a deck that aims to win after playing Archmage Antonidas and four Sorcerer's Apprentice in one turn, then killing the opponent with a barrage of 0-cost Fireballs. In the Wild format, the Mage has access to Emperor Thaurissan, a card that allows you to reduce the cost of all the cards in your hand by 1. When you have Archmage Antonidas, [Sorcerer’s Apprentice], and Molten Reflection in your hand, the cost reductions from Emperor Thaurissan will be enough to play them all in one turn, and finish the game! Exodia mage is strong against decks that don’t have a lot of minion pressure, like the ever-popular Reno Priest. In this article, I will explain how to create and successfully play an Exodia Mage deck, and explain when not to play Exodia Mage.

Disclaimer: Because I don’t have a 50-game sample size, the contents of this article are my own opinion. I do have a working knowledge of Exodia Mage after playing it in Legend near the beginning of the Frozen Throne expansion.

In “Lethe”, Sarek is nearly killed when his acquaintance V’Latak destroys his shuttle while he is on the way to Klingon peace negotiations. Michael Burnham, who shares part of Sarek’s Katra, suddenly collapses while having lunch. She is pulled into the mind of Sarek, who is fixated on Burnham’s failure to make it into the Vulcan Expeditionary group. Sarek doesn’t welcome Burnham into his mind, so he pushes her out. As Sarek is near death, Burnham pleads with Captain Lorca to arrange a rescue mission. Meanwhile, Admiral Cornwall’s shuttle makes a surprise appearance. Cornwall wants to know if Captain Lorca is mentally fit for his responsibilities as captain of Discovery. She wants to know why he has been ignoring orders, allowing Burnham (a mutineer) to be an important part of Discovery’s mission, and why he has allowed Stamets to undergo eugenic manipulation.

This week, Michael Burnham attends a party where she hopes to create new friendships between herself and the Discovery crew. Meanwhile, Harry Mudd (from “Choose your Pain”) boards the Discovery by hiding inside a Gormagander, an endangered species that Lorca is required to beam aboard. Mudd emerges and somehow takes control of the ship’s computer. Mudd declares to Captain Lorca that he will have his revenge for being left to die inside the Klingon ship. He intends to sell the Discovery to the Klingons, which in turn would stop any chance the Federation has of winning the war, and allow him to get back together with the love of his life, Stella. The only thing stopping him is that he doesn’t know how to operate the ship’s Spore drive. Somehow, Mudd obtained a Time Crystal, which lets him repeat the same thirty minutes over and over until he succeeds.

Lately I’ve been trying the new dual class arenas in Hearthstone. For those of you who don’t know, the Hallow’s End event has changed arena so that after you pick your first class, you then have to pick a hero power to go with your chosen class. Once you pick your two classes, your draft will contain cards from both classes! There are also some fancy new hero portraits when you play arena during this one-week event! If you haven’t played already, everyone gains one free Arena ticket, so you have nothing to lose for trying the Arena.

In this article, I’ll talk about Jade druid and Jade shaman in the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion in the Wild format. I’ve played Jade Shaman and Jade Druid heavily ever since the release of Mean Streets of Gadgetzan because I’ve always enjoyed the play style of Jade decks. I prefer to play as many Jade summoners as possible in my deck, even when other players playing the same deck run other cards. I’ve gotten a good sense of how strong both strong decks are, and at what times they were strongest. Both decks play very differently, with Jade Shaman having many different sub-archetypes between aggro midrange and control, and with Jade druid having access to heavy mana ramp and card draw. I’ll offer a few different deck lists, and then explain why I now prefer Jade Druid so much more than Shaman.

For the purposes of this article, I won’t talk about Jade Rogue, as it was never well positioned in the meta. I’ve played it sometimes, but no Jade Rogue deck I’ve played felt stronger than a tier 3 deck.Continue reading →

Are you looking to play a new twist on an old deck archetype? Zoo Warlock is an archetype that has been around ever since the beginning of Hearthstone and has seen play in many different forms, even in the Wild format. Zoo warlock was outclassed by other aggressive decks ever since the release of Patches and the existence of pirate warrior. With the recent nerfs to Innervate and Fiery War Axe (which saw play in aggro druid and pirate warrior respectively), Zoo Warlock now has more of a fighting chance or even favorable against other aggressive decks. In this article, I will discuss the Demon Zoo archetype, a subarchetype that aims to exploit the power of demon synergy cards like Voidcaller, Mal'Ganis, and Bloodreaver Gul'dan.